ILX Parenting 5: I'm a big kid now

Our kids have books and then they have what they look at on the iPad. Most of the app material is from shows and movies. The boy likes this Toy Story 3 app that reads the movie to him like a story, with words on the page, still-life illustrations, etc. It's like it slows the story down for him to catch the more subtle aspects he missed from the film.

They also watch a cartoon based on an app where you tickle a cat's belly and she purrs. Welcome to 2013.

A couple years ago, I had a nook. My daughter used it too, mostly for silly little apps where you pop bubbles or make animal noises or whatever. I made a lot of effort to look for children’s books for her, but the selection was disappointing. Off the top of my head, I remember Splat the Cat, The Monster at the End of This Book, and some of the Biscuit series.

Reading Rainbow has an app* though I don't know whether there are actual books involved.

*Levar Burton talked about it a lot at the last Star Trek convention I attended.

Thanks guys, I'm looking into those - Biscuit might be promising, as these would be very young kids (17-19 months). Reading Rainbow looks good too - I downloaded the app, but my phone is playing up so can't check it out yet.

The fucked up thing is that some day our kids will be NOSTALGIC for the "simple" apps they played with as kids, in comparison with whatever far more advanced and immersive thing they have by college.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_08VMX2xp_k

parentz, how many holly hunter in raising arizona moments do you have? i have had a few full blown sobbing fits this year.

um sorry dude you're on your own :D

Actualllyyyyy I have quoted that specific scene while holding my child to make LOLs out of the fact that I was crying because I was holding my child.

There were some mitigating factors that I could cite to explain my emotional outburst but let's be real I would cry re holding this kid regardless because, though I am hard and emotionless on the internet, I am a complete puddle in real life. Also for real, I love her so mu-u-u-u-uch.

<3 <3

i can't even imagine how rad yr first christmas together is going to be u guys

I tear up over my kids every so often. It's a combo of overwhelming love mixed with a crushing helplessness and fear that something will happen to them. The other day, I didn't get a text back from my wife for three hours while she was watching them and I put myself into vertigo with worry. I was checking local news twitters for any word about a car crash or something. I mean, crazy shit. And it's not like she hadn't gone that long without checking in before. I just got all messed up about them because I basically pale and cower in the shadow of how little and wonderful they are. I don't fucking know.

Anyhow, y'all got some tips & tricks for potty training? I'm sick of buying diapers.

That sounds about right.

I freak out that either something will happen to K or that something will happen to H and K will grow up motherless pretty much every other day. I'm just not a tears of joy kind of guy I guess.

Actualllyyyyy I have quoted that specific scene while holding my child to make LOLs out of the fact that I was crying because I was holding my child.

― carl agatha, Monday, December 23, 2013 1:06 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There were some mitigating factors that I could cite to explain my emotional outburst but let's be real I would cry re holding this kid regardless because, though I am hard and emotionless on the internet, I am a complete puddle in real life. Also for real, I love her so mu-u-u-u-uch.

― carl agatha, Monday, December 23, 2013 1:09 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3 <3

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, December 23, 2013 1:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i can't even imagine how rad yr first christmas together is going to be u guys

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, December 23, 2013 1:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

todo esto

btw today is the first day of 2 weeks off from work and i am at home with baby bison and we are all snuggly yayyyy

Sarah wanted to take Evie to the nativity pageant at the church behind our house, which I was ok with, but then I started to feel weird about it, and we ended up having a long, middle-of-the-night parenting discussion about it and the questions it could raise etc etc. She ended up just being bored and confused and has not mentioned it since.

Evie was bored and confused, not Sarah. We were all pretty bored, actually.

And speaking of worrying: I used to almost never have nightmares, now I regularly have horrible nightmares where something bad happens to Evie. Being a parent turns you into an emotional wuss.

Well, don't have two because then you can't kill yourself if something bad does happen to the first one.

In case anyone wondered how much parents needlessly worry about their kids...

I have gone down that horrifying mental corridor, yes. :(

What how's life described is 100% how I feel sometimes about my younger siblings. I know it's not the same.. but oh the gut punches and watery eyed pride I have suffered watching these children grow (into little bastards :/)

Been super emotional this month when it comes to August. I seriously sobbed (irrationally) last night when I realized there was no photo of me with August in her cute Christmas dress or any photo of us together that wasn't dark or blurry. She wore the dress for several hours and I took pics of her in it and with J. Loved how it looked in her $1 vintage dress that looked like it was never used. She had a fit when I put it on her, screamed and wailed for five minutes then forgot all about it. She'll never wear it again. I don't know why I had that episode or any of the others all month. Cried when I saw all her toys under the tree...ugh

*Sorry, meant to say I loved hoe the $1 dress looked on her

SLEEP REGRESSION IS NOT A MYTH

Aaahaahhahhhhhhhgggggghhhhh

K's sleep schedule got all kinds of messed up recently, so H had a great idea -- no nap today. It worked.

So we've had this part-time nanny for about six months now and we still feel slightly off about her. The thing is, there are a lot of positives: she's responsible, she's on-time always, she seems like a decent and nice person, she seems to genuinely like K, etc. At the same time, somehow K just doesn't respond to her in the most positive way. She still usually protests when the nanny comes, and when both H and the nanny happen to be home she pretty much refuses to be with the nanny. I know this might not be a fair comparison, but tonight my brother and his girlfriend came over, and K has only met them like twice, but she had no problem hanging out in the bedroom alone with them for like 20 minutes. I just don't see her doing that with the nanny while we're home. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that we telegraph our feelings about the nanny and about my brother to her, IDK. Not sure what to do -- on one hand we *think* she's safe with the nanny and generally taken care of, otoh it's hard to think she's spending like 25 hrs a week with someone she doesn't feel that good with, if that's the case.

plus letting her go means finding someone else and risking worse. At least with this person we feel like nothing terrible is going to happen.

I kind of remember now how when I was a kid there were certain babysitters I *liked* and certain babysitters I felt vaguely uneasy and unhappy with even though there was nothing wrong.

IANAP but maybe she associates the nanny with your and your wife's absence, which is why she isn't super stoked around her when you're present? idk i worked in a childcare center many many years ago, lots of the kids would scream blue murder for the parents when they were being picked up or dropped off, but were perfectly lovely and responsive with the care workers otherwise.

I have noticed that August doesn't respond well to people I am uneasy or vague about. I guess she picks up on the vibes or something. I don't think I am being obvious, hope not. Once I get comfortable, she does too. Maybe K is picking up on your feelings?

SLEEP REGRESSION IS NOT A MYTH

our lovely little fellow presently has a thing where he gets up at one and hollers, clicks, hoots, and shouts for about an hour. he doesn't reach angry-crying levels of come-get-me and at the end of the hour he goes back to sleep. it is an awesome mind control trick by the toddler, because that hour between one and two, if lost, will rob the sleep on either side of it of its value. I personally don't give much a shit however because I LOVE HIM SO MUUUUUUUCH

parentz, how many holly hunter in raising arizona moments do you have? i have had a few full blown sobbing fits this year.

― rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Sunday, December 22, 2013 8:32 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Almost 7 years on and this still happens to me on the reg

Snot sucker achievement unlocked. When she's snorting like a stuffed up elephant it is super satisfying to get up in there and get those boogers. Even better when I put her in her bouncy seat in the bathroom while I shower first. She totally zens out with the Nose Frieda, like just gets still and stares into space until I'm done.

Also that vibrating bouncy seat is like a baby hypnotizing machine.

We went to the zoo with friends on Sunday and found out today that their daughter, who was riding around in a wagon with Evie the whole time, has chicken pox.

nooooooooooooooooo

oh god.

Oh man. When do kids get the chicken pox vaccine? Has Evie had it yet?

all children in plastic bubbles

ok imma sound dumb but...ive never heard about chicken pox vaccines. i have heard about "get your kids chicken pox so they can build immunity now and 4eva" which is how me and me brother handled shit IN THE 90S

Yeah, apparently they came up with them too late for me.

Yeah, the NHS don't give the vaccine as routine, only to those with vulnerable family members. I think pox parties are still the preferred method here.

I think it's part of the regular vaccine schedule in the US but I don't remember when it happens.

Pox parties make me rage. It is the dumbest fucking thing. Don't do that to your children.

I mean you're intentionally exposing your child to a disease. The virus stays with you for life, and then you can get shingles when you're older. And then you can have complications if you have a compromised immune system at any point. PLUS chicken poxs really suck for kids. Just get the vaccine.

Chicken pox in adults sucks a hell of a lot more than in kids, believe me.

We think she got the vaccine; it looks like kids normally get it at 12-18 months and we didn't turn down any offered vaccines. But chicken pox has a 2-week incubation period and the vaccine doesn't always work, so we won't be sure for a while.

both of my kids got pox about 2 y o and it was no biggie, they didn't even scratch their huge horrible spots at all (??)

i agree the pox party thing seems kinda crepey but i thought it was settled that it's good for kids to get it? wouldn't a vaccine need constant reupping?